Free Website Content

Avoid Duplicate Content Penalties

Large search engines attempt to filter
their search results by removing any results that duplicate
the content of other search results. Such filtering
is referred to as duplicate content penalty.

It is important to understand and identify
what duplicate content actually is. Duplicate content
is generally defined as substantive blocks of text that
are copied from one site to another. Some webmasters
try to use duplicated content in an attempt to manipulate
and influence search engine rankings. The search community
still occasionally debates the legitimacy and existence
of duplicate content filters, but whether they exist
today, or will exist tomorrow, is really irrelevant.
Most webmasters have simply accepted the fact that the
duplicate content penalty is currently enforced by at
least some of the major search engines.

With that in mind, how does the search
engine determine which version of the content is the
original, and which is duplicated? It is difficult for
the search engine to tell which website is responsible
for the original version of any content, and some innocent
websites might find themselves penalized or banned for
including duplicated content. After analyzing the behavior
of search engines, it is safe to assume that the search
engines will often retain the content listing from what
it considers to be the most 'trusted' source. They may
look at the number of incoming related links, the age
of the domain, or any other SEO factors that reinforce
the reputation of the domain that contains the duplicated
content. If one of the 'copies' is considered by the
search engine to be from a reputable source, they my
find themselves ranking well, while the actual source
of the 'original' version may find themselves unjustly
banned or penalized.

Representatives from the major search
engines have all made it clear that they prefer search
engines that contain unique content. Webmasters who
want to avoid any current or future bans will do well
to follow these simple guidelines in order to avoid
duplicate content penalties:

1. Redirects

If you redesign your website, use permanent
301 redirects. Redirects are a legitimate way of routing
web traffic.

2. Unique

Each page within a website should be unique.
The focus of each page on a website, even if it's similar
to the theme of another page, must contain unique and
original content.

3. Multi-Language

If there are multiple language versions
of a website, consider using a different domain for
different versions; search engines do not view an article
translated into a variety of foreign languages as being
duplicated content -- each language version is unique
content in the eyes of the search engine.

4. Unique Meta Tags

Each web page should contain unique meta
tags.

5. Robots.txt

If you do have intentional duplicate content
on your website, be sure to have a robots.txt file for
your site to prevent the search engines from indexing
the areas with duplicated content (or any areas of the
website that you wish to remain private, for that matter).

6. Affiliate Twist

If you are promoting products or services
using an affiliate program, use unique and distinctive
product descriptions and web copy. If you simply use
the same descriptions provided by the product owner
or service provider, it's very likely that your copy
could be viewed as duplicated content.

7. Copyright

Include a copyright notice on your website.

8. Enforce

If you discover that another website is
scraping your unique web content and replicating it,
enforce your copyright! Use CopyScape at http://www.copyscape.com/
, or use their copy sentry service to receive notification
of any infractions. If you discover a copyright violation,
contact the website and politely request appropriate
changes.

If the changes are not made in a reasonable
and satisfactory amount of time, contact the ISP (web
host) of the infringing site, and file a DMCA complaint
with Google http://www.google.com/dmca.html
.

9. Avoid Identical Content

Do everything you can to avoid serving
a web page that contains content identical or closely
related to another page. If for some reason you have
two pages that contain identical content, use a robots.txt
to block the search engines from spidering one version
of the page.

While it may still be debatable whether
all the major search engines currently employ a duplicate
content penalty, all have made it abundantly clear that
they do not have any desire to provide search results
that rehash the same content over and over. Actively
avoid any potential penalties by taking a proactive
approach to building unique content.

This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.